Beavers causing headaches for Berrien Co. residents

Some Berrien County residents Friday wanted county commissioners to do more to keep water from flooding their roads and property. But, one county official said the county was doing all it could.

Drivers could make it down Skeet Range Road in Berrien County Friday, but resident Ray Gibson said about three days earlier the roads were impassable.

"You couldn't really see how deep it was because it was all under water. Here was the deepest part," said Gibson, pointing to some water over the road on Mud Creek Road. "It's still got a current across it."

He said this was not the first time this has happened already in 2015, and he believed it was being caused by beaver dams being destroyed in a nearby pond, which allows the water from the pond to drain onto the road.

"It's happened three or four times this year. You never know when it's gonna happen," said Gibson.

Berrien County Road Superintendent Ben Warren told WALB over the phone late Friday afternoon that the beaver dam was busted recently to drain water away from several homes on Mud Creek Road.

Tommy Luke also owns property near Skeet Range Road. He said he couldn't cut timber during the Winter because Beavers damned up the creek on his property causing it to flood. And, he said the county building up the road isn't necessarily helping.

"Now, they're buildin' the road up another two or three feet. So, it's holdin' back more water and floodin' property worse," Luke said.

Warren said the county recently added an additional drainage pipe for his property, made the existing drainage pipes larger, and added a fence to try to prevent beavers from damning up the pipes.

Warren also said the county was trying to mitigate the beaver problem county wide. And, he said come Monday the county would take care of the water on the road.